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My usual policy on consoles is get one during their lifetime, play a whole bunch of second hand games on it and then gather up the remaining for what few exclusives I might give a damn about. A policy that works well for me but I am still just rocking an original DS and PSP (though that has been relegated to podcasts, megadrive bomberman and audiobooks device) and given it is a few years in I should probably start looking at a new device.
Thus far I have not bothered with the 3ds (only in the last year or so I have seen one run but never held or played one) as I see no games really worth my time over the DS and from what I have seen of the vita it is a definite pick one up after all is said and done affair.

For various reasons I have been lumped with supporting android and IOS devices and as such I have seen a few android games that look good, lots of nice card games, lots of nice ports/remakes of old arcade and C64/atari/dos era games, emulators that work reasonably well and despite it looking like FF5- game maker edition things like that appear to be coming up which was about the last potential remaining thing I might care about that a 3ds could have over it. On top of this the devices are usually not too pricey, games are pretty good and both games and the devices are eminently hackable (on top of them being halfway close to a general computing device).

Naturally I would do it properly and find one with proper controls and whatnot but as I am a casual observer in all this at present I may have overlooked something. I have seen a few people around the forums quite insistent they are a different class of device but I am not seeing it or at least not seeing why I can not deem one a games and entertainment device and where that might fall down.

I play android/iOS games on the toilet, and I use the device to watch videos while I fall asleep. Also as an emergency internet device.

There's few games I play for more than a few minutes at a time, generally RPGs and other long drawn-out games (like you mention) that don't need quick movements, so the lack of physical controls isn't too bad, though they'd of course be preferred... RPGs tend to be workable without them.

I have an android smart phone and a 3DS. And teh difference between these two devices is very apparent in my life. Obvious differences aside (the benefits of two screens, physical buttons, and a 3D screen), there is still a striking difference between what I use each device for. My android (in terms of gaming) is used mostly for shovelware games: bad piggies, angry birds, cut the rope. Sure it can be used for more immersive games, but they ALWAYS feel awkward, and I know this isn't simply just the fact that I'm using only a touch screen as all the buttons, for I feel one of the bluetooth gamepads just wouldn't make enough of a difference for me. So, like mentioned above, my android ends up being the device I play games on while sitting on the toilet, or to kill a brief amount of time when I'm in a waiting room or something like that. My 3DS however, is for a much more satisfying and immersive gameplay, this is a handheld I'll just breakout on a lazy afternoon and play for hours on end, if I'm taking a long trip with some friends and I'm not driving, I'll play it, or if I am driving, I'll let a friend play it. On top of all of that, theres the obvious simple fact that android will never see the exclusive 3DS games like Mario, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, Pokemon X and Y, Zelda, etc.

I dunno, I love both devices, but in my life they both have very separate and calculated times when they get broken out (in terms of playing games) depending on what I'll be doing. So for me android is not a viable alternative to my 3DS, but it certainly serves a purpose of its own.

Android user here too. My only major issue with Android gaming is device compatibility. Many games run on my device but some of then have major lag which makes playing those games practically impossible. With that said, the industry is taking Android gaming seriously and there has been some great stuff released lately. There are also things coming out in the future to look forward too. Your best bet, get a cheap android tablet and use it as a entry level device, play around with the games that seem interesting to you and then if you like what you see/play maybe invest in a higher end device. If you don't like it, then hey, you didn't spend too much to make a dent.

Some interesting replies, controls seem to be a common theme and that was a concern going into it and one I had hoped to avoid by picking the right device. I do play a fair mix of games as far as needs millisecond accurate controls and "tactics before twitching goes" and would really not do myself out of the former. I had tried many things and not really experienced it too badly on what I had tried though.

android will never see the exclusive 3DS games like Mario, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, Pokemon X and Y, Zelda, etc.

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I probably have noted that although I found the DS NSMB enjoyable the others have been more of the same and utterly ignorable for me, 3d mario can work but is nothing I will miss, kart and racing games are likely to appear in good enough for on android not to mention the mario kart franchise for me has gone seriously downhill in recent times and it was far from perfect to begin with, smash brothers... a nice toy but nothing I care to have, I have played enough games that I do not need to be introduced to the concepts pokemon serves to introduce people to (as far as I am concerned that is pokemon's only merit) and zelda sits alongside mario in "might kill some time but would never seek it" territory (though I would welcome a go at something in the DX, oracles or minish cap line of thought, no one game has ever been good enough to sell a system to me though). To go further I never did Metroid before prime save for a small go on some GBA entries and to save the rest I never had a SNES and have no great attachment to any of the other franchises.

If buttons/controllers are an important factor in your gameplay style, look for something that features a full-size usb port. The later versions of android are compatible with both wired and wireless usb gamepads, straight out of the box.

FWIW, I rock an el cheapo acer iconia A200 tab (running stock ICS). I don't enjoy gaming on it with the touchscreen controls at all. Plug in a usb gamepad though, and the experience with GTA3 is comparable to playing it on a mid range PC. SNES emulation/gamplay is pretty good, too.

I've tested both a logitech rumblepad 2 (wired) and a logitech F710 (wireless) with the A200, and they both work very well indeed.

Got one of these babies: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Bl...QC02/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364144782&sr=8-1, and early compatibility problems aside (plus it being a bit small for my hands/cheap & plasticky) it's fantastic for the emulators once you get used! Dpad & buttons all very nice.... Also have a 3DS - personally I enjoy both of them!
$64000 question though - which would I rather take on the train, 3DS or phone/controller combo? Neither, just the phone!

The controls are properly pointed out in previous posts.
Now for availability:
Developing for Android is not interesting, because users can't be bothered to pay for anything. iOS is a real threat for handhelds, but Android not much. And no I'm not an Applefag since I love my Sony Xperia U to death, but Google really messed up the Play Store. Why you ask? Because it's creditcard only. No prepaid cards in stores, no paypal, no debit cards, no iDeal. Apple has all those options, that's why there are more and more games coming out which are more than just casual.

I love my 3DS and my Android though and I don't mind carrying around both. If I need to make a trip long enough to use my 3DS, I carry a bag 99% of the time anyway.

It boils down to the content you're interested in.
And are you looking at a pseudo gaming mobile phone or just android as a gaming platform in general? If the latter I would just stay clear of android and get a dedicated handheld like the 3DS or the vita.

NVIDIA's shield has a good concept but I won't bring that with me as an on the go device.

Battery life on my android is crap, I could probably play for an hour untill my battery was low. There's no 3D on my android, no dpad, no shoulder buttons no slide pad, theres a limit to what I can do on my Android

Battery life is not a problem (though my limited experience says most are not so bad)- I tend to only play handhelds as I wait for things to download/render/encode on my PC, as I am sitting there on a client site watching an install bar go up or I am sitting in bed, all of which have readily available nearby power.
I probably would go small tablet or maybe a larger one with controller. I have thus far avoided having a mobile phone in any real capacity and plan to continue with. Similarly I had a go on some of the smaller tablets and they work quite well for me.

"no prepaid cards in stores, no paypal, no debit cards, no iDeal"
Personally that does not matter for me and I would probably even count no paypal as a bonus but I can see why that could trouble developers somewhere. Debit cards do seem to be supported ( http://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=105916 ) and gift cards do appear to exist so it is not all bad. Either way though they seem to be putting out the same sorts of things from what I have seen (read as far as I care about and with the added bonus of android store not being quite as restrictive as apple's). Also despite things like copytrans I am afraid I will not even grace a throwaway VM with itunes at this point (over the air stuff is better but idevices without itunes are still not as good as they should be).

"no prepaid cards in stores, no paypal, no debit cards, no iDeal"
Personally that does not matter for me and I would probably even count no paypal as a bonus but I can see why that could trouble developers somewhere. Debit cards do seem to be supported ( http://support.google.com/googleplay/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=105916 ) and gift cards do appear to exist so it is not all bad. Either way though they seem to be putting out the same sorts of things from what I have seen (read as far as I care about and with the added bonus of android store not being quite as restrictive as apple's). Also despite things like copytrans I am afraid I will not even grace a throwaway VM with itunes at this point (over the air stuff is better but idevices without itunes are still not as good as they should be).

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All that stuff is available in the US, but not in Europe, which is a gigantic market, especially since Europeans use credit cards way less than US citizens do. This results in a much smaller choice in "real" games. It gets better because of the Humble Bundles though.

All that stuff is available in the US, but not in Europe, which is a gigantic market, especially since Europeans use credit cards way less than US citizens do. This results in a much smaller choice in "real" games. It gets better because of the Humble Bundles though.

That's tricky... You see, Android have a lot of games, but unfortunately it's full of bad quality games and doesn't have good support from the big gaming companies. On the other hand, you can get games for better prices and there's always some hidden gem to play. Well, you could buy an Android phone and wait to see if the 3DS or Vita have something that calls your attention.

By the way, it seems you don't like the DS's Zelda? Not because you think the controls are awkward, right? Because a game in the line of the DS's Zeldas would be just perfect for touch based phones!